Manually shiftable rail mounted shelf units

ABSTRACT

SHELVING UNITS ARE MOVABLE ALONG GUIDE RAILS BETWEEN SELECTED END PORTIONS BY MEANS OF A LEVER SWINGABLY MOUNTED ON A SIDE OF EACH UNIT AND HAVING A LOWER END PORTION ENGAGEABLE WITH SELECTED, VARIABLY POSITIONABLE ABUTMENTS PROJECTING LATERALLY FROM ONE OF THE RAILS AND AN UPPER END PORTION PROVIDING A HAND GRIP FOR SWINGING THE LEVER ABOUT ITS PIVOT TO MOVE THE UNIT BY A LEVERAGE ACTION. THE PIVOT POINT OF THE LEVER IS ADJUSTABLE ALONG THE LEVER TO PROVIDE VARIABLE LEVERAGE.

March 2, 1971 H. o. LuNDQvlsT MANUALLY SHIFTABLE RAIL MOUNTED SHELF UNITS Filed Nov. 2o, 19e? o www 1 w 3l FW l M F/o A k 21x (n1/f. v of! g ihk l', [00 IIN r! w BKM/m0 ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,567,299 MANUALLY SHIFTABLE RAIL MOUNTED SHELF UNITS j Harald O. Lundqvist, Route de Malagnou, Geneva, Switzerland Filed Nov. 20, 1967, Ser. No. 684,402 Claims priority, application Sweden, Nov. 28, 1966,

3/ 66 Int. Cl. A47b 53/,02, 96/00; B61d 15/10 U.S. Cl. S12-199 6 Claims ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE Shelving units are movable along guide rails between selected end portions by means of a lever swingably mounted on a side of each unit and having a lower end portion engageable with selected, variably positionable abutments projecting laterally from one of the rails and an upper end portion providing a hand grip for swinging the lever about its pivot to move the unit by a leverage action. The pivot point of the lever is adjustable along the lever to provide variable leverage.

The present invention relates to an arrangement for moving each of a number of shelving units and the like on rails between two end positions by means of a lever which is pivotally mounted on a wall of each shelving unit and is swingable between two limit stops. The upper end of the lever is formed as a hand grip and the lower end is designed to cooperate with abutments on one of the rails supporting the units.

An arrangement of this kind is previously known in which a lever arm has its lower end swingably supported by a bearing xed on the support. A higher point on the lever arm is connected to the wall of the unit by a bearing which is slidable in a direction lengthwise of the lever arm. An advantage of such a lever arrangement is that the unit can be moved with less force than when the grip is xed relative to the unit. However, an essential disadvantage is that the unit can be moved only a short distance by a lever movement of reasonable length. The arrangement is therefore limited in practice to the moving of a single light unit between two fixed units for the purpose of obtaining a relatively small movement between the units.

Moreover, there are known similar arrangements having on the wall of the unit a swingable gear sector actuated by a reducing gear and having at least one tooth which is brought into engagement with a rack fixed on the support. These arrangements are complicated, are subject to serious wear and can easily be damaged, for example through a hard object falling on the rack and jamming between the rack and the sector gear.

An object of the present invention is to provide a particularly simple and reliable arrangement whereby a shelving unit is movable through an unlimited distance and at the same time an entire group of units can be set in motion with great ease. In accordance with the invention, a lever is swingably mounted on a side wall of each unit and has a lower end portion engageable with abutments projecting laterally from one of the rails supporting the units and an upper end portion providing a hand grip for swinging the lever about its pivot to move the unit by a leverage action. The arrangement is such that, without any construction changes, it can be adapted to ditlerent leverage requirements. Preferably the abutments are so positioned along the rail that the lower end of the lever in both end positions of each shelving unit lies against an abutment. Through the invention, the shelving unit can be rapidly set in motion since the lever arm can, without disadvantage provide a high leverage, and

3,567,299 Patented Mar. 2, 1971 ICC through further pressure on the grip of the lever arm the shelving unit is moved with essentially constant velocity until the pressure on the grip ceases and the shelving unit slows down and stops.

The invention consists in a further reduction of the force required for putting the shelving unit in movement and in a significant improvement of the movement characteristics of the unit in comparison with the rst mentioned arrangement, and in a significantly simpler and more reliable arrangement than by the last mentioned known arrangement. Moreover, there is the important advantage that depressions in the base cannot affect the engagement relationship between the lever and the abutments and that the engagement relationship is determined in the production of the apparatus and is hence independent of the construction and the installation of the shelving units.

The invention will be more fully understood from the following description and accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example a selected embodiment of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a number of shelving units,

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a portion of one unit with a lever mounted thereon,

FIG. 3 is a section on the line III- III in FIG. 2, and

FG. 4 is a cross section of a rail with an abutment shown in the form of a pin.

The shelving units 1, 2, 3 and 4 shown in FIG. l are provided with wheels 5 which run on a set of guide rails 6 mounted fast on the floor. Each shelving unit is provided with a lever 7 which is swingable about a shaft 8 mounted on a wall of the unit. Movement of the lever is limited by stop members 9 mounted on the wall of the unit. On one rail 6 there are eight variably positionable laterally projecting pins 11-18. With the shelving units in the positions shown, the respective levers 7 are in engagement with their pins 11, 13, 16 and 18.

Upon swinging of the lever 7 on, for example the shelving unit 1, the lower end of the lever presses against the pin 11 and the units 1 and 2 are shoved toward the unit 3 until they are stopped by the latter. The levers of the units 1 and 2 are then against the pins 12 and 14 respectively when these are correctly positioned. Swinging the lever of the unit 1, for example in the reverse direction will press the lower end of the lever 7 against the pin 12 and move the unit 1 back to the original position. As an analogous relationship exists for units 3 and 4, it will be seen that a passageway or free space can be formed as desired between the shelving units b4, or at either end of the series of units.

It will further be seen that when the space between the units shown in FIG. 1 is made greater in relation to the width of the units, the space between the pins or abutments 12 and 13, 14 and 15, and 16 and 17 respectively is smaller. When the space width is made equal to the sum of the width of the unit and the throw of the lower end of the lever, only one pin for each shelving unit is needed and the distance between the pins will then be equal to the width of the shelving unit. Hence, it can be seen that by variably positioning the pins along the guide rail, the spacing between the shelving units can be selectively varied. Suitable holes or other retaining means for releasably holding the abutments in place are positioned axially along the length of one of the rails 6. The abutments are then selectively positioned in the appropriate holes depending upon the particular spacing desired between adjacent shelving units.

A suitable construction of the lever 7 is shown in FIG. 2. The lever consists of two steel tubes 21 and 22, the opposite ends of which are welded together. The upper end of the lever is provided with a hand grip 23. Along an intermediate portion of the lever, the tubes 21 and 22 run parallel to one another and on this portion a bearing assembly comprising two bearing plates 24 and 25 (FIG. 3) is slidably mounted. The plates 24 and 25 are provided with concave edge portions which embrace the tubes 21, 22 and are so designed that upon being drawn together by means of screws 26, the bearing plates are clamped fast on the ltubes 21, 22 comprising the lever 7.

The lever is rotatably supported by a shaft 8 which is fixed on a mounting plate 27 for mounting it on the wall of the shelving unit. Since the shaft 8 is slidable with reference to the lever 7 and canbe fixed in selected position, identical levers can be used for different types of shelving units which require a different leverage force, it being only necessary to position the mounting plate 27 and the bearing plates 24, 25 in proper positionon different types of shelving units.

In certain cases, it may be necessary to position the abutments or pins 11-18 so that the lower end of the lever can spring over them. In such cases, a spring 28 is arranged between the lever and the wall of the shelving unit so as to bias the lever to a vertical position. The lever is swingable out of the vertical position in either direction against spring action. Thereby the risk is avoided that the lever assumes an incorrect position when the shelving unit is moved to its respective limit position without use of the lever.

A cross section of a suitable form of the rail 6 is illustrated in FIG. 4. 1t is shown as comprising a U-shaped iron rail mounted on a support member shown as a wood ledge 29. The pins are cylindrical and are mounted in holes through side portions of the rail 6 and through the ledge 29 and secured by nuts 30. The position of the lower end of the lever 7 is shown in broken lines.

While a preferred form of the invention has been shown by way of example in the drawings and has been herein described, it will be understood that the invention is in no way limited to the particular embodiment shown and described.

What I claim is:

1. In combination: a set of guidel rails, a plurality of shelving units positioned for movement along said guide rails between selected end positions, a mechanism manually operable to effect movement of said units along said guide rails comprising a lever swingably mounted on each of said units to swing about an axis extending transversely of said guide rails, said lever having a lower end portion adjacent a rail and a manually engageable upper end portion extending up above said axis for manually swinging said lever about said axis, an abutment associated with each said shelving unit cooperative with means extending axially along one of said guide rails for releasably holding individual ones of said abutments in variably selected positions wherein same project laterally from said rail and engage with said lower 4end portions of respective ones of said levers to effect movement of said shelving units along said rails when said levers are swung about their axes.

2. Mechanism according to claim 1, in which said lever is swingably mounted on said unit by means comprising a shaft ixed in selected position on a wall of said unit, bearing means slidably on said lever in a direction lengthwise of said lever and means for securing said bearing means in selected position on said lever, whereby the effective leverage of said lever is selectively varied.

3. Mechanism according to claim 2, in which said lever comprises two bar-shaped members having opposite end portions united with one another and'- spaced intermediate portions parallel to one another and in which said bearing means comprises two bearing plates receiving said parallel portions of said bar-shaped members between them, and said securing means comprises means for drawing said bearing plates toward one another to clamp said bar-shaped members between them.`

4. Mechanism according to claim 1, comprising spring means for resiliently biasing said lever to a vertical position, said lever being movable in either direction out of said vertical position against the action of said spring means.

5. Mechanism according to claim 1, in which means is provided for limiting the swing of said lever and in which said abutments are positioned on said rail to be in engagement with said lever when said lever is in a limit position and said unit is in an end position.

6. A combination according to claim 1, in which each :aid rail comprises a support member and a rail of inverted U-shape fitting over said support member with side portions on opposite sides of said support members, and in which each of said abutments on at least one rail comprises a pin extending through said side portions and through said support to secure the rail to the support and having an end portion projecting laterally of said rail and engageable by said lever.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 66,467 7/1867 Crittenden 254-35 122,814 1/1872 Collins 10S-3l 1,042,545 10/1912 Gammel 23S- 143 1,091,281 3/1914 Brown 23S-145 1,117,827 11/1914 Fox 23S-145 1,328,770 1/1920 Sterner 254-35 2,707,442 5/1955 IngOld 312-199 ARTHUR LQLA POINT, Primary Examiner H. BELTRAN, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

